AS Master Plan violations and unchecked growth of housing societies have defaced the original character of the Federal Capital, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to make the construction regulation transparent. Hearing a case, a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, asked the CDA to check contamination of Korang Nullah adding that No Objection Certificate (NOC) for housing societies should include a condition for setting up their own sewage treatment plant.
Though the court made remarks in reference to unchecked pollution/contamination of Korang Nullah but the same is true of other nullahs flowing through or around the capital territory besides Simly and Rawal Dams. Not to speak of dozens of housing societies that have cropped up in the suburbs of the capital, untreated water from Banni Gala continues to pollute Rawal Lake, which is a major source of supply of water to neighbouring Rawalpindi. Apart from sewage water issue, housing societies are not complying with other regulations of CDA especially with regard to roads and streets, quality of development work, provision of services, green spaces, allocation of land for graveyards and educational, health and recreational facilities. CDA has closed its eyes mainly because either these societies are owned by influential people or these are run by powerful departments that escape accountability. Housing societies need to be encouraged as these complement efforts of the Government to provide shelter to people but at the same time there should be no compromise on implementation of regulations and quality of development work.
